Pro Kabaddi season 2 to kick off on July 18

Pro Kabaddi League, which was a success in 2014, will be back with its second season on 18 July, 2015 with the opening leg to be held at National Sports Club of India (NSCI) in Mumbai.

The opening game will pit the two finalists of last year, U Mumba take on reigning Champions Jaipur Pink Panthers.

The league promoted by Mashal Sports and Star India with the backing of the Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India and International Kabaddi Federation, will feature 60 games played across 37 days in 8 cities.

Hero ISL to kick off on Oct 12, Live on Star Sports

Arsenal legend Freddie Ljungberg and Spanish World Cupper Luis Garcia will be the centre of attention when Mumbai City FC kick off the inaugural Indian Super League on October 12, Sunday, 7pm at Atletico de Kolkata, in a tournament that will feature 61 games spread across 70 days.

The opening match will be played at the historic Salt Lake Stadium.

 

The league stage will witness 56 games on home and away format, followed by a two-legged semi-finals and the final scheduled for December 20.

59 matches will be see kick off at 7pm and 2 matches on  December 9 and 10 will start at 5pm.

All the action will be live on Star Sports 3 in Hindi, Jalsha Movies in Bangla, Star Sports 1, HD1 in English and live streaming on starsports.com.

Ten Sports to air Sri Lankan cricket till 2020

Sri Lanka Cricket Board (SLC) and TEN Sports have signed a seven year deal to broadcast SLC’s international cricket matches. The deal will run through till March 2020. This includes multi-platform media and sponsorship rights globally. 

Through its network of international affiliates and other broadcasters worldwide, content will be distributed in over 100 countries.  Apart from English, TEN Sports will also be broadcasting the matches in Hindi and other regional languages.

71 percent viewers watched sports in Hindi

After Hindi, Bangla & Tamil  up next

English was the language of sports commentary when it started in India in the early 1940s on All India Radio. The listenership was limited to the English-speaking class. It was in the late 1950s that cricket commentary in Hindi made a beginning. Commentary in the language of the people took the game of cricket to the hinterlands.

The dominance of sports commentary in Hindi continued till the mid-1980s. Live commentary of India winning the 1975 Hockey World Cup & the 1983 cricket world cup were heard by most cricket fans in India in Hindi.

For the older generation, the names of commentators in Hindi such as Jasdev Singh, Suresh Saraiya, Narottam Puri and Ravi Chaturvedi still bring back memories of the 1970s and early 1980s when words created action happening on the cricket field.

This is what you can watch on Sports TV in 2014

Ten Sports air Asian Games & CWG
& Hockey World Cup

Every next year promises more than the previous year but 2014 is really big. Indian Cricket team will be on two of the toughest & longest tours : England tour with 5 tests & as many ODIs and later in December to Australia which is going to be acid test for 2015 Cricket World Cup. For Indian Football fans IPL-style Indian Super Football league could become a reality; though not all are in favour of ISL.

2014 will also see two quadrennial multi sports events: Commonwealth Games & Asian Games both on Ten Sports in Hindi & English and Hockey World Cup will also be on Ten Sports Network. For these 3 events feeds of selected Indian matches will be shared with Doordarshan.

Star will continue its experiment with Hindi & Indian languages.
Neo Sports is left with Bundesliga only.
Sony Six will be banking on IPL & action sports.

But the event of the year will be FIFA World Cup in June. If reports are to be believed Star Sports has sealed the deal for FIFA World Cup & will air it in Hindi & English.

Wimbledon will be up for grabs so it has not been decided which channel will air it. Hockey India League, Indian Badminton League will be shown on Star Sports & I-League on Ten Sports. This year could see some more leagues coming up, possibly a basketball league & Kabaddi league. EPL, LaLiga, SerieA, UEFA & other big properties haven’t changed hands, so will be on regular channels. Pakistan cricket board rights will be up for sale in next few weeks.  Here is a list of most awaited sporting events of 2014 with their channels & kick off dates. Wishing you a very happy new year !

Happy sporty 2014 on TV:

1.    Australian Open on Star Sports from Jan 13

2.    India tour of NewZealand on Sony Six from Jan 19

3.    Sochi Winter Olympics on Star Sports from Feb 6

4.    Asia Cup Cricket on Star Sports from Feb 24

5.    Formula One season on Star Sports from March 16

6.    ICC T20 World Cup on Star Sports from March 16 (Hindi + English)

7.    Hockey World Cup on TenSports from May 31 (Hindi+English)

8.    FIFA World Cup on Sony Six from June 12 (Hindi+English)

9.    India tour of England on Star Sports from July 9 (Hindi+English)

10. Commonwealth Games on Ten Sports from July 23(Hindi+English)

11.  Asian Games on Ten Sports from September 19 (Hindi+English)

12.India tour of England on Star Sports from December 5 (Hindi+English)

*Star Sports & Ten Sports refers to their network, some of the events will see multi channel broadcast. 

2013: Sports channels begin to challenge the traditional rules

By Peter Hutton : Joint CEO of sports media rights company MP & Silva

Peter Hutton is Joint CEO of sports media rights company MP & Silva)

Read more at: http://www.televisionpost.com/television/2013-sports-channels-begin-to-challenge-the-traditional-rules/ | TelevisionPost.com

Peter Hutton is Joint CEO of sports media rights company MP & Silva)

Read more at: http://www.televisionpost.com/television/2013-sports-channels-begin-to-challenge-the-traditional-rules/ | TelevisionPost.com

Peter Hutton is Joint CEO of sports media rights company MP & Silva)

Read more at: http://www.televisionpost.com/television/2013-sports-channels-begin-to-challenge-the-traditional-rules/ | TelevisionPost.com

Welcome to the Year of the Star cricket series featuring the Star Indian cricket team on Star Sports. Quite a last 12 months for Uday Shankar and Nitin Kukreja’s team at Star—they’ve built on their inherited sports business with dynamism and an intent to be local and relevant. In the last year, a huge spend on the next three years of the English Premier League football and a leap into the darkness of the hockey franchise world has shown a continued determination to challenge the rules of the Indian sports traditions. 

Those rules certainly needed re-writing with all the sports channels dragged into losses by the relentless inflation of cricket rights. Now we wait to see if Star can rewrite the rules on collections of revenues with sports as the battering ram of their whole entertainment business. What can’t be disputed is the way that they’ve used the entertainment channels to help cross-promote and build the bigger event to a wider audience.

Sachin’s last Test was a human interest story that transcended sport, and I’m sure the support of the Star network helped maximise the value of that emotional goodbye. Star also deserves credit for their investment in digital content that makes multiple games or multiple views of a sports event available.

Hindi & Indian Languages to take sports to next level : Star India Sports Prez

Star Sports presented a unique series of Knowledge Sessions - the India Pro Leagues Forum 2013 in New Delhi. STAR India President – Sports Nitin Kukreja delivered an engaging and insightful keynote address at the inaugural session of the summit, elaborating on the growing appetite of the Indian sports fans and the enormous growth potential of sports in the country.

Does ‘sport’ in India really begin and end with ‘Big Boys’ Cricket’? Or do we just see it that way? Across the length and breadth of India, there are strong communities and pockets of interest where people are passionately engaged with local sports and local players - football in Bengal, hockey in Punjab and Orissa, badminton in Hyderabad, basketball played in schools and table tennis played in clubs, colleges and offices across the country.

Alvida Sachin Series will be the costliest Test series in the history

Alvida Sachin Series will be the
costliest test series in the history

Sachin’s farewell series will be shown live on Star Cricket in Hindi & on Star Sports, Star Cricket HD in English. And on other platforms starsports.com will live stream Alvida Series online & All India Radio will air running commentary.

Public broadcaster Prasar Bharti’s CEO Jawahar Sircar has also tweeted that ''We will see if we can negotiate'' with Star-BCCI' to air Sachin’s last match on DD National so that terrestrial TV viewers can also watch the legend playing last time.

It's Star Sports Cup now : Star's bid to be cricket's synonym

Star TV has so far forked out over $2.9 billion (Rs 17,800 crore) in buying cricket broadcasting rights, which has made it the undisputed leader in the segment. Now, it wants to go one step forward by grabbing sponsorship rights of cricket tournaments. The reason is simple but elegant: it wants to position the Star brand in such a way that it becomes synonymous with cricket in India. Last week, Star TV just did that when it won the title sponsorship rights for all the 13 international cricket matches to be held in India between October 2013 and March 2014 by agreeing to pay Rs 2 crore a match. It was a steal; Star TV was the only bidder and paid 39 per cent lower than what Bharti Airtel had forked out to win the rights last year. It will be the sponsor as well as the broadcaster of these matches.

Star Sports & IMG-Reliance all set to launch IPL style football Super League

Reliance Industries, Star India and IMG are set to launch the `Indian Super League,’ a football championship that will foster local talent and feature international stars with the aim of making the game one of the country’s flagship sports and India a name to reckon with in the global arena.

Which cricket commentary is better – Hindi or English?

BCCI directly controls English feed

If you are a fan of text book commentary, you might argue, English commentary is better than Hindi and it has better talent.  But hold on! It is Hindi commentary which has huge numbers and editorially completely independent from Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Add to it, huge subscription revenues it brings to Star Sports Network. So if you love having options then which cricket commentary is better - Hindi or English? 

The BCCI produces the world feed and hires English commentators. And there are strict do’s and don’ts for English commentators. 

Share feed with Doordarshan : Delhi High Court to Sports Channels

Upholding Prasar Bharati’s view, the Delhi High Court on Thursday held that whosoever airs a live television broadcast of sporting events of national importance must share the same with national broadcaster Prasar Bharati, which runs Doordarshan & All India Radio, without any commercials.

A bench of Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justice Pradeep Nandrajog made the observations while dismissing a TV channel’s plea seeking a direction to Prasar Bharati not to insist on the live signal of international cricket matches of India without any commercial.

India-Aus series to be Fight for No.1, Star Sports scores with cricket again

Fight for No. 1 : Team India will be seen
in action after almost 2 months 

Team India's all home cricket matches will be aired on Star Sports Network. The BCCI has awarded the rights for telecasting all international matches played in India to Star Sports Network for the period October 2013 to April 30, 2014.

The first in line is 7 ODIs and one T20 match India-Australia series starting 10 October till 2 November, marking the total telecast value at Rs 16 crore. India, the leader in ODI currently with 123 points, will fight Australia to retain the top position as the Aussies are 2^nd with 115 points. If Australia topples India with a comprehensive win then they will be the new no. 1 while if India wins the series they will retain their position. 

Ten Sports' big shift : from Dubai to Noida

Ten Sports Network ( TSN ) has some prime cricket properties which can be considered hot viewing options for Indian sports TV viewers. This includes the exclusive India rights to telecast action on the field for five cricket boards - South Africa, West Indies, Zimbabwe, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. As compared to this, rival ESPN Star Sports has the rights to domestic Indian cricket, which it pocketed after committing close to $770 million dollars to the BCCI.  Neo Sports - another sportscaster in India - has the rights to New Zealand cricket, while Sony Entertainment boasts of the highly popular and profitable though controversial Indian Premier League. This apart, TSN has also signed up other sporting properties such as WWE, US Open, ATP Tournaments, WTA, Ryder Cup, Moto GP, Euro league, PGA Championship, Asian Tour, European Tour and Tour De France.

Calcutta Football League & IFA Shield on Jalsha Movies in Bangla : Star Sports is going local

In a bid to expand its footprint beyond film, Star India’s Bengali movie channel, Jalsha, has acquired exclusive broadcast rights of two football events : the Calcutta Football League (CFL) and IFA Shield Tournament. 

 The CFL, which enjoys the distinction of being the oldest football league  in Asia, will be broadcast live on Jalsha Movies starting 8 September,  4:00 pm onward. The upcoming season of the prestigious IFA tourney    too will be aired with the aim of ushering a new era in Bengal’s much       loved sport.

How IBL managed to strike gold against all odds

What went into transforming IBL from the league that
almost didn't make it to one of the success stories 

It is 11 am on an unusually sunny Sunday morning in Mumbai, but Ashish Chadha is still groggy. The previous night ended only at six in the morning for him. There was reason to celebrate for the CEO of Sporty Solutionz, which bought and ran the Indian Badminton League. Against all odds, the League had completed its first season successfully, and how. From the league that almost didn’t happen, it is being compared with the elephant in the room, cricket’s Indian Premier League, and perhaps more importantly, sans the controversies.

The smile on Chadha’s face betrays the relief at having defied the odds. The fates of the boxing and hockey leagues, which by all accounts, went down with a whimper, were still fresh in public memory. Sleepless nights weren’t new to him. In the last year, he has taken at least 300 flights, he says, trying to sell an idea that looked like reaching for the stars. It would either have to be a grand do or a feeble die.

Ten Action to air 75 I-League & 15 Fed Cup matches

Ten Action & Ten Sports to air

75 I-League & 15 Fed Cup matches

The country’s premier football tournament, I-League will kick off on September 21 with 14 teams in the fray.

A three-month window has been provided for the IPL-style football league in January-March next year. 

A total of 75 I-league matches and 15 Federation Cup matches will be telecast live on Ten Action and Ten Sports.

Defending champions Churchill Brothers will take on Salgaocar FC in the opening match of the 26-round league at Duler in Goa.

Five brands sign on-air deals for Bundesliga on Neo Sports

NEO Sports Broadcast has announced a list of sponsors for the German Football League.

The associate sponsors for the Bundesliga’s 51st season in 2013-14 are Airtel, Lava, Loreal, Bose and Nike. More brands are in the process of signing up the channel revealed.

                           

The number of sponsors announced is amongst the highest for any football league broadcast in the country. Through these associations, NEO has nearly sold out all inventories on the Bundesliga, the broadcaster claims.

Hindi commentary of BPL enhances ESPN Star Sports ratings

ESPN Star Sports seems to have hit the right notes with its viewers with the telecast of Barclays Premier League (BPL) this year. And it’s no plain statement. The broadcaster which is airing the football league in both English and Hindi this season has reported a 254 per cent jump in its ratings on the inaugural day. Not only this, the broadcaster also recorded a 105 per cent increase in its time spent per viewer on the day.

The league which went on air from 17 August on Star Sports and Star Cricket is also made available in Hindi for the first time. “We believe there is a huge potential for growth in football viewership and that Indian fans would love to consume non-cricket sports as well if the product is packaged well, communicated and presented in an interesting manner,” said ESPN Software India COO Vijay Rajput.

Why Star Cricket is showing football?

News channels airing comedy shows or bollywood promotions are not uncommon scenes in India. But a cricket channel telecasting football seems a bit strange. 

Ongoing season of English Premier League is being aired on Star Cricket and Star Cricket HD at the moment along with Star Sports with Hindi and English commentary. Strange though it may seem, it is well thought out coverage plan of Star Sports Network.